"Your Plan and Mine." Albumen CDV photograph after lithograph. N.p., [1864].  4 x 2 1/2 in. 

A rare CDV albumen copy of Currier & Ives' political cartoon lampooning the candidates of the 1864 presidential election, in particular their divergent policies regarding Black Americans, especially those serving in the Union Army. 

At left, Democratic candidate General George McClellan offers an olive branch to Confederate president Jefferson Davis and begs "you to accept the 'Olive branch' take back your N----r and promising that you shall do as you please in future..." The scowling Davis grasps a kneeling Black soldier and exclaims, "I see the Olive branch, and take the N----r, and am glad to hear that you are willing to be governed once more by your Southern masters." 

Appalled at the capitulation, the Black Soldier in uniform looks back at McClellan, asking, "Why general! I am a Union Soldier! I have shed my blood in defence of liberty and law, and will you give me back again to Slavery?"

In contrast, at right, President Abraham Lincoln holds a defeated Davis at the point of a bayonet, demanding his unconditional surrender, explicitly stating: "the great & magnanimous Nation that I represent have no desire for revenge upon you, but they will never allow you to again enslave those, who have been made free by your rebellion;..."  Offering his pistol, Davis surrenders and entreats Lincoln to rejoin the Union. A Black soldier looks on and taunts Davis: "Ha, Ha, Massa Secesh guess you won't fool time with this child any more!" 

[Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Mary Todd Lincoln, 1860 Election, Election of 1860, 1864 Election, Election of 1864,  Lincoln Assassination, John Wilkes Booth] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [Art, Folk Art, Military Art, Etching, Engraving, Lithographs, Prints, Ephemera] [Civil War, Union, Confederate]